Coalition Calls for Release Of Detained Army General

By Akinwale Kasali

A Coalition of O’odua Groups have called on  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release detained General Oluwasegun Abiodun Bolarinwa. The General has been incarcerated in the past three years on alleged trumped up charges.

The detained Bolarinwa is one of the Military Officers who provided life-saving information for the opposition during the June 12 crisis, including information helpful to the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Group described the continuous detention of Bolarinwa as an insult to the memory of those who fought for democracy in Nigeria.

It said it is widely believed that President Tinububu is either unaware or has been fed with false information about the detained General.

In a statement released at the weekend, the group urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene and release the retired General currently kept at the Ikoyi prison.

It noted that during the June 12 crisis, Bolarinwa who was a Captain at the time, refused to be recruited into the killing squad created by the late General Sani Abacha prompting the reactionary wing of the military to target him.

The group stressed further that Bolarinwa is made to suffer due to the role he played in the struggle for democracy within the Army.

The continuous detention led to his escape to Cotonou, Benin Republic, where he was kidnapped by Abacha gang- led  Col Frank Omenka who was at that time the head of the Directorate for Military Intelligence, (DMI).

He was detained between 1994 and 1995 by Abacha. He is one of the few officers who has suffered undue persecution under the military.

Before the handover to democratic governance, he was also arrested and charged for plotting to overthrow the government.

The Group in the statement said:

“We call on President Tinubu to release General Bolarinwa who is a victim of political persecution.

“We caution that continuous detention of the General might lead to his death’, the League of O’odua United Groups, LONEF.

“He has been deprived of liberty and freedom. He is currently kept at Ikoyi prison. He has spent more than two years in prison. He is at the risk of death or even stroke.

“He has for a long time been denied of freedom,’’ the group said in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Abdulraheem Adegbenro.

LONEF said General Bolarinwa has suffered deprivation on the account of being a man of his conscience. ‘‘Under late General Sani Abacha, he was arrested and detained for his opposition to the annulment of June 12 election. He was persecuted and attacked by key actors in the Abacha government. He barely managed to escape death”.

The group said for the five years that General Abacha reigned, General Bolarinwa was a target of humiliation and all forms of degrading attacks adding that his current detention was motivated by his political beliefs.

General Bolarinwa was said to have played critical role during the military era by exposing the plot to kill Chief Abraham Adesanya and other members of the National Democratic Coalition, (NADECO).

It added that  Bolarinwa is also a victim of trumped up charges by dark forces of yesteryears trying to rope him in with corruption and fraud charges.